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We are electing to offer a rec division at this years ASC. We are also going to have Rec classes and Jr classes playing from alternate tees. I want the tournament to be a fun experience and in truth having a JR or a true Rec player tossing a hole not designed for them is both not fun and a potential frustration. Not every hole will be adjusted and I also hope this helps flow of groups throughout the course.

Secondly, I want more women playing dang it. Last year we had 12 awesome ladies play (less than 10% of the field). What do I or we as a club need to do to make it more inviting/enticing for all you great lady golfers from Tri Cities, Spokane, Seattle, and Portland areas to come and play?

Lastly, this is for the open players, FWWDGC will pay out via check for obvious safety reasons for both me the TD and you the player. I don't want to hold on to that much cash.

-Kristopher

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Secondly, I want more women playing dang it. Last year we had 12 awesome ladies play (less than 10% of the field). What do I or we as a club need to do to make it more inviting/enticing for all you great lady golfers from Tri Cities, Spokane, Seattle, and Portland areas to come and play?

-Kristopher

personal, handwritten invitations on linen stationery and pay for a hotel room with a hot tub for each of us...

seriously, kris... putting the word out like this is a really good start... just let the ladies know that you're looking for them.

also, if you, or someone involved in your club is on facebook, go and like the PDGA Women's Committee page and then you can post something on our wall about your event... girls looooove facebook so that is a really great way to reach a large audience of women (honestly, i think there's like 2 gals who read this forum regularly and a handful more who look at it every now and again).

also... you could go ahead and save a certain number of spots just for women until 2 weeks before the event when you then open those spots up to the boys... and then you can advertise that you are running a "women friendly" event, which is how Shavonne does it for the Hope Open

"'There are two mantras.,' Bernard said, 'Yum and yuk. Mine is yum.'"
Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker

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[QUOTE=Cerrgurry;115943]Just some general information that may or may not be useful.

We are electing to offer a rec division at this years ASC. We are also going to have Rec classes and Jr classes playing from alternate tees. I want the tournament to be a fun experience and in truth having a JR or a true Rec player tossing a hole not designed for them is both not fun and a potential frustration. Not every hole will be adjusted and I also hope this helps flow of groups throughout the course.

-Kristopher[/QUOTE

Well aren't you AWESOME Kris (but I already knew that) so I wanted to PUBLICLY thank you for recognizing those youngest of players!!

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Secondly, I want more women playing dang it. Last year we had 12 awesome ladies play (less than 10% of the field). What do I or we as a club need to do to make it more inviting/enticing for all you great lady golfers from Tri Cities, Spokane, Seattle, and Portland areas to come and play?
-Kristopher

Kris,

You run a great tournament. That's number one. So you are already ahead of the curve.

Here are a few of my suggestions for specifically attracting women:

If you are doing shirts, provide shirts that are made for women and get 'realistic' sizes.

Make sure you get some 150 class plastic and set it aside for the women's player's packs or for the Pro women to purchase.

Be mindful when you are assigning holes...some of your women's groups will play slower and it's really tough to try to finish strong when other groups are heading in crossing into their fairways.

Don't assume your pro women and am women want to be grouped together if you run into grouping challenges.

Don't assume your pro women don't want to play in the Pro pool on the tougher courses.

Remember most women who travel and compete take this just as seriously as the men who travel and compete.

Please note I'm not claiming to speak for any women besides myself, These are my suggestions based on my opinions and observations from my experiences in tournament play.

If they are helpful to you, great. If not, it's still really nice that you asked :-)

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Are any other ladies interested in joining me in an pro age protected division? I don't want to be a wuss...but I'm coming off knee surgery and it hasn't escaped me that all these adorable youngsters who will be playing in the Pro Women's division have been burning it up on the courses due to the mild winter...

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I have cleared it with my wife to open up my house, parking spots (rv's), and yard for you players in attempts to alleviate the burden of lodging. All we ask is that you keep the smoke outside (aka my kids unaware), clean up after yourself, and please don't moon the neighbors.

I have also found a local player with a backyard that can house a few tents.

Either case we ask that you contact me and we can go from there if you want to take us up on this offer.

Last year I don't remember how many were at my house and it all seemed to go smooth with no complaints from the neighbors. I anticipate the same results for this year.

Take Care
Kristopher Bland

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Are any other ladies interested in joining me in an pro age protected division? I don't want to be a wuss...but I'm coming off knee surgery and it hasn't escaped me that all these adorable youngsters who will be playing in the Pro Women's division have been burning it up on the courses due to the mild winter...

Karen, Cindy, Nancy, Jaymie, Kim, Randi....want my money? :-)

I would love to come play the Sushi again, but I am just not sure I can make it work this year. I have plans to go to Worlds in July, so I need to cut back on some of my other traveling. I will probably just keep to local tournaments this year.

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Thank you to Emma Rose and Leslie for responding to my plea and thank you Danni for the kind words.

Some things for this years ASC are already in motion (shirts are ordered), but I will continue to do what I can to make ASC inviting for ALL players.

Have a great day
Kris

kris, you run a great tournament and it has a vibe that encourages women to play, so i second what lesli said about being ahead of the curve... game... etc. reading lesli's post, she made some excellent points... especially regarding the mixing of the divisions and... speaking for myself... putting the pro women in the same flight as the pro men. that is how i would prefer to roll and i do understand why TD's will sometimes put us in the opposite flight (speed of play, etc.) but that doesn't mean i have to like it. also, i've spent some time discussing the placement of the women's cards to support flow and speed of play at tournaments with jeff hagerty and he's very thoughtful about how he does this and i recommend following his example.

@lesli... i did not say "personal massages" i said hot tubs and "personal invitations on linen stationery"... massages freak me out. hope you recover well from your knee stuff...

emma

"'There are two mantras.,' Bernard said, 'Yum and yuk. Mine is yum.'"
Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker

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kris, you run a great tournament and it has a vibe that encourages women to play, so i second what lesli said about being ahead of the curve... game... etc. reading lesli's post, she made some excellent points... especially regarding the mixing of the divisions and... speaking for myself... putting the pro women in the same flight as the pro men. that is how i would prefer to roll and i do understand why TD's will sometimes put us in the opposite flight (speed of play, etc.) but that doesn't mean i have to like it. also, i've spent some time discussing the placement of the women's cards to support flow and speed of play at tournaments with jeff hagerty and he's very thoughtful about how he does this and i recommend following his example.

@lesli... i did not say "personal massages" i said hot tubs and "personal invitations on linen stationery"... massages freak me out. hope you recover well from your knee stuff...

emma

What exactly does Jeff do to help promote the flow and speed of play? I usually try to give a buffer (when I can) and start at holes I feel will get everyone off to a non waiting start.
As for the Open women playing on the same flight as the men, I will make all efforts to make this happen. That was my goal for last year and for 2012 if I have to decide which open division to move off the open flight I will choose a Male division (MPG perhaps).
As to smaller divisions and deciding to have them play with other women or play with men of a similar division, I attempt to talk to the players involved. I do believe this is what I did last year...I asked (think it was you) if you would prefer to play with the ladies or a mens group (int i think).

As with the rest of the world if you see something going on and you wish to voice a concern or request please talk to me for perhaps I was unaware or at least I can give my reasoning for what action was taken.

May 5th is going to be here before I know it....time to go to preschool with my son.